End labeling attachment



Feb. 22, 1944. w. HOPPE ET AL END LABELING ATTACHMENT 5 Sheets-Sheet l Filed March 20 1941 INVENTOR MLLMMHaPPfA/wa Feb. 22, 1944. W` HOPPEETAL 2,342,583

` END LABE'LING ATTACHMENT y Filed March 20, 1941 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Feb 22 W. HOPPE ET AL END LABELING ATTACHMENT Filed March 20, 1941 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTO'R ZVJLL/AM HOPPE A/v Y 7 ATTO EYS END LABELING ATTACHMENT W. HOPPE ET AL Filed March 2O 1941 Feb. 22, 1944.

Feb. 22, 1944.

w` HOPPE ET Al.

END LABELTNG ATTACHMENT Filed March 20v, 1941 5 sheets-sheet 5 INVENTOR -'V/LL/AMZz/*OPPE AND Patented F ell). 22, 1944 END LABELING ATTACHMENT William Hoppe, Longmeadow, and Franklin B. i Roberts, West Springfield, Mass., assignors to National Bread Wrapping Machine Co., Springfield, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts y Application March 20, 1941, Serial No. 384,374 14 Claims. (Cl. 216-25) This invention relates to end labeling devices particularly intended for association with a wrapping machine in which an article such as a loaf A of bread is heat sealed in a wrapper of waxed paper or the like, to the outside of which the label is to be secured.` One object of the invention is to improve the manner of feeding the labels in web form from a reel, severing individual labels from the web, and feeding the severed labels vinto registry with the wrapped articles. A further object is to improve the mechanism for registering the labels with respect to the articles. A further object is to improve the mechanism for sealing the labels to the underlying wrapper. Additional objects will appear from the following description and claims.

Referring to the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a 'labeling device embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a top plan thereof;

Fig. 3 is a sectional detail plan on a larger scale;

Figs. 4 and 5 are details of the article-released mechanism for starting the labeling cycle;

Fig. 6 is a sectional elevation of the label web feed roll drive;

Fig. 7 is a sectional elevation of the control for the cut label feeding rolls;

Fig. 8 is a detail of the drive for the cut label feeding rolls;

Fig. 9 is a sectional elevation of the path of the label web and of the severing knives; v

Fig. 10 is a detail of mechanism appearing in Fig. 6;

Fig. 11 is a detail on an enlarged scale of certain feed mechanism for the cut labels; and

Figs. 12, 13, and 14 are sequential views of the feeding of a cut label to the article.

The labeling attachment is shown as being adapted for mounting between a wrapping machine 20 and a cooling unit 2| (Fig.'2Q, so that if installations without the labeler are desired it can be removed and the cooling unit moved up to the wrapping machine. The frame 22 of the labeler is secured as by a pin 23 to the wrapper frame 20, and has laterally spaced bottom belts 24 and two side belts 25 (Fig. 2) which receive the wrapped articles from the delivery conveyor of the wrapping machine and forward them through the labeler. To drive these belts the shaft 26 of the bottom belt is coupled as by a chain 21 with any suitable part. of the wrapping machine.

A cam shaft 23, coupled to shaft 26 by chains 29, 30, is journaled across the frame, and has at one end a sleeve loosely rotatable upon it carrying a sprocket 3|, a sprocket 32, a drive ratchet 33, and a holding ratchet 34. The sprocket 3| is driven by the chain 30 from the shaft 26, keeping the sleeve in constant rotation. Sprocket 32 serves to drive -the cooling attachment shaft 35 through a chain 36. A cylindrical member 31 is keyed to the shaft 28 and has a projecting journal 38 in which a stub shaft 39 is mounted. One end of this shaft has fixed to it an arm 40, which is constantly urged in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 3 by a spring 4| compressed between the arm and a portion of the journal 33. The arm is releasably held by latch mechanism controlled by the presence of a wrapped loaf asI will be described below.

Also fixed tothe arm 40 is a driving pawl 45' which, when the arm and shaftare rotated by the spring 4|, engages the driving ratchet 33. It will be recalled that this ratchet is constantly rotated, and whenever the pawl is permitted to engage wtih it'the pawl, together with the member '31, the shaft 39, and the arm 40, will be carried around with it. By mechanism to be described this rotation is limited to a. single revolution until the cycle is again started by another loaf of bread. It is desirable to lock the member 31 to the drive ratchet during rotation to prevent any tendency to overrun, and for this purpose a holding pawl 46 is freely pivoted on the shaft 39. This pawl is pressed into contact with the ratchet 34 by a, leaf spring 41 mounted on an arm 48 fixed to the end of shaft 39, the spring ,resting against a pin 49 extending laterally from engagement of the pawl 46 and ratchet 34 prc-v vents it from turning faster than the driving ratchet.

The shaft 28 is driven periodically, by mans of the mechanism described and certain trip mechanism to be considered later, through one revolution each time a loaf is fed along by the belts. Several cams are mounted on the shaft for rotation with it, and their functions will be considered separately after first following the course of the web w as it leaves its vsupply roll 50. The web first passes under a guide'roli 5| which is free to rise and fall in slots 52 formed in plates 53 secured to the frame of the labeler. The roll 5| has pinions engaged with racks 55 to keep its axis always parallel during its movement. 'I'he web then passes between plates 56. the function of which will appear 1ater, and over a roll 51 which, when adjusted, remains vin a fixed position and is clamped by thumb screws 58. This roll preferably has pinions engaging racks to keep its axis parallel during adjustment. After leaving roll 51 the web passes between a driven isoressed towards the roll 6| by a tension spring The rolls are preferably circumferentially. recessed at intervals as at 6 6 (Fig. 3), and are geared together at 81, 88 (Fig. 6), the latter of these gears meshing with a gear 69 to which are secured a driving ratchet 10 and a holding ratchet 1|. `The shaft of roll 62 is preferably provided with a grasping handle 12 (Fig. 3) by which the rolls may be separated in order to permit threading of the web through them.

The rolls are driven by an oscillating pawl 15 carried upon a member 18 free to swing about l the shaft- 11 upon which the ratchets 10 and 1| and the gear 69 are mounted. To this member 18 is pivoted at 18 a link 19 pivoted at 80 to an arm l8| swinging on a shaft 82. A cam rolly 88 on the arm 8| is held by a spring 84 against a cam 85 on the shaft 28 previously mentioned.

The cam oscillates the pawl 15 in each cycle` pivoted at 93 to a rocker 94 swinging on a stationary pivot 95 and having an extension 98 bearing a cam roll 91. A cam 98 on shaft 28 causes periodic motion of the cutter to sever a blank from the web.

As the blank is cut from the web it is grasped by two vertical transfer rolls |00, I, the former of which is freely rotatable upon a fixed stud |02 while the latter is journaled on a shaft |03 carried by a swinging bracket |04. This bracket is pivoted upon a stud |05, and is acted upon by a spring |06 to keep the rolls separated except when pressed together by other means; the spring being compressed between a flxed plate |01 on the bracket and a fixed part of the machine. A

1 link |08 (Fig. '7) is pivoted to the bracket |04 and to an arm |09 having a roll ||0 held against a cam I|| on shaft 28 by spring |08, the roll |0| being by this means pressed against the roll |00 at the time a label is cut off and held in such contact until the label has been delivered laterally out of the rolls. Roll |00, which does not move and therefore is in a position to engage the vertically moving web, is 'preferably not driven except by engagement with roll |0| in order not to cause any displacement of the label before this is gripped firmly between the two rolls. Roll |0| has a gear ||5 meshing with a wide faced gear ||6 on a shaft ||1 coupled by links ||8 and ||9 with the shaft of roll |0| and with a stationary shaft |20 respectively. Agear|2| on the latter shaft meshes with the wide faced gear ||8 but is laterally displaced with respect to gear I5. The linkage described permits the roll |0| to be moved back and forth while still coupled to gear |2|. This latter gear is invmesh with a gear |22 (Figs. 3 and 11) loose n a vertical shaft |23. Adjacent the gear on this shaft is a sleeve |24 carrying a sprocket |25 in engagement withv the chain |28 which connects the drive pulleys of the side belts at the two ends of the machine, and thus driven in timed relation to the passage of articles along the belt conveyor. Sleeve |24 has an axially mov. able pin |21 adapted to llt into a recess |28 in the gear |22 and held either in or out of engagement withthe recess-by a set screw |29. This permits the transfer rolls and certain feed belting associated with them to be disconnected when the wrapping machine is to be operated temporarily other. Belt |32 passes around a terminal pulley |83 located so as to bring the belt almost vin line with the side conveying belt 25. Belt |3| passes around a terminal pulley |34 that is located short of the pulley |93 and out of line with it so as to cause a sharp bend ln the belts as is best seen in Figs.- 12 to 14. The purpose of the bend is to cause the label to slant towards the end of the article in a direction corresponding to that in which the article is moving. The belts receive a cut label from the rolls |00, |0| and deliver it to the package as shown in Figs. 12 and 13. After receiving the label the varticle passes against belts |35, preferably of metal and running past a heater |36. Heat from this belt fuses the thermoplastic coating with which the label is provided and permits it to adhere to the wrapper folds atl the end of the article. The article then passes to the usual delivery belts or cooler which it is not necessary to illustrate here in detail.

\ It remains to consider two control mechanisms, one for starting the label feed in timed relation to the passage of an article and the other for insuring the cutting of the label in correct registration with respect toits printing or design. Taking up the first thecontrol of the label feed by the article, it should be noted that in practice the .articles are fed along the discharge conveyor of the wrapping machine by contact of spaced ypushers with their rear faces. The articles thus arrive in the belt conveyors `of the labeler with these rear faces in timed vrelation to the Wrapping machine but with their front faces in varyingv timed relationship in accordance with the width of the article in the direction of travel of the conveyor. It is one of the features of the present invention that since the feed of the label is initially upwardly the only adjustment necessary to center labels on loaves of varying widths (unless the marginal spacing is to be changed as discussed below) is to change the label web reel. It is not necessary to change the adjustment of the web feed, for this varies the feed of the web in the direction of the height, not the width, of the article. To accomplish this, however, it is necessary to time the machine automatically so that the feed of the label is in synchronsm with the forward and not the rear face of the article.

The timing mechanism is under the' control of a feeler |40 (Fig. 4) fixed to a rocking shaft |4| extending below the bottom belt conveyors 24,

ythe feeler extending upwardly between the two spaced bottom conveyors. The shaft also carries an arm |42 bearing a laterally projecting pin |43. A spring |44 normally holds the feeler in the p0- sition of Fig. 4. Pivoted to a shaft |45 is a rail |46 resting on this pin and held yicldingly against it by a spring |44. A notch |41 in the rail flts over a side lug |48 on the .arm 40 and holds this against the tendency of the spring 4| to turn the arm in a direction to bring the drivingpawl against its ratchet. When the rail is raised by the turning of the feeler by an article the arm 40 is freed, the driving pawl is A similar 'l The two belts will in connection with labels having continuous brought into engagement with its ratchet. and the pawl carrier and the cam shaft 28 driven by it are caused to rotate'through one revolution. At the completion of one revolution the lug |48 again enters the notch |41, the feeler having been by this time released by the passage of the article beyond it, thus disengaging the pawl and ratchet and causing the shaft 26 to come to rest. To prevent backward motion a second rail |50, held by a springV |5|, is also pivoted on shaft 10 |45 and has a notch |52 adapted to engage a one"\ tooth ratchet |53 fixed to the shaft 28. T'he feeler mechanism described acts not only to time the label feed with the leading face of the article but also prevents its operation if no article is being delivered.

To keep the labels in constant registration with the cutting mechanism, so that the labels will be severed on the correct line with respect to the printing which they bear, they are preferably provided with perforations or notched edges through which may pass a pin |60 reciprocable through aligned holes |6| in the guide plates 56 (Fig. 9). The pin is carried on an arm |62 fixed on a cross shaft |63. This shaft also carries arm |64 (Fig. 10) drawn by' a spring |65 to keep its end in engagement with an adjustable segmental cam. |55 on the pawl carrier 16 which drives the label feed rolls 6 1, 68. The arm |64 also carries a multiple toothed pawl |61 which, when the arm |64 is permitted to rock by the passage of the pin through the web, grasps the holding ratchet as in Fig. 6 and stops further movement of the pawl carrier, which is driven noly by the spring 84. The cam, which is adjustably mounted on the pawl carrier by a bolt and slot connection |68, is set so as to hold the pawl |61 out of contact with the holding ratchet during the initial feeding of the label web, and to release the arm |64 to permit the pin |50 to rest on the web as the feeding motion approaches its end. When the pin finally drops into the hole in the paper the feed will stop instantly.

The adjustable cam |66 also has a further use printing; that is, labels in which there is no recurrent design requiring severance in accurate relationship. By positioning the web around, rather than through, the guides 56, and by setting the cam |55 to terminate the feed a predetermined time after it has been started by cam 65, labels of a constant width may be severed successively from the web and registered with the article by the mechanism driven from feeler |40 as described above. 55

Certain features of the adjustment of the mechanism to change the size of the label or to accommodate articles of differing sizes will now be considered. For loaves of diiferent lengths no adjustment is necessary except a bodily shift of .the labeler frames |10 transversely of the ma.- chine. These frames also carry the side belts l and |35, which are driven from shaft by a chain |1|, gearing |12, and a chain |13, and are mounted for lateral sliding movement on rods |14 and canbe adjusted by the usual right and left hand screws |15.

The front margin, that is to say the distance between the front edge of the article and the front edge of the label, is determined by the feeler |40. There is always a deiinitet ravel between the time an article strikes'the feeler and the time the article meets a label fed between the belts 3|, |32. As long as the front margin is to be preserved unchanged this travel is constant, al-

though the relative timing between the labeler and the wrapping machine may vary. If it is desired to change the front margin the position of the member 31 on shaft 28 is altered, as by set screws |16 (Fig. 4), producing an effect equivalent to a shifting of the feeler longitudinally of the conveyor.

No adjustment is provided for varying the rear perforations or indentations which cooperate with the pins |60. Whenever the perforations permit the pins to enter, the vertical feed of the label web is arrested, and at the proper time the label will be severed therefrom and fed laterally into contact with a loaf. It is, however, necessary to vary the distance between the registering pins and the cutting point in order that the printed part of the label shall be in proper registration with the knife. This is accomplished by changing the position of roll 51.

The labels are supplied to the machine in web I form wound on reels which are mounted with their axes horizontal, thus' permitting the use of large reels without a substantial increase in the floor space occupied by the machine. A further advantage of this mounting, coupled with the ver.

tical feed and subsequent lateral transfer of the y labels, is that the reels on the two sides may be identical. With a vertical axis of the reel, on l' the contrary, the web has to be specially printed in right and left hand forms for the two sides.

The wrapper is preferably sealed around the article by heaters on the wrapping machine before entering the labeler, in order to avoid the necessity of supplying through the label itself sufiicient heat to melt the wax on the underlying overlapped folds. With printed wrappers this reduction of the heat required assists in preventing smearing, a danger which is further avoided by using the metallic heated belts or chains |35 instead of heated plates past which the articles slide.

What we claim is: 1. A method of applying to a wrapper having an external fusible coating a label having a fusi- I ble coating on the side next to the wrapper, which comprises heating the wrapper, rolling the label against the still hot wrapper, heating the label while pressing it against the wrapper by pressure normal to the surface thereof to cause its coating to unite with the fused coating of the wrapper, and chilling the wrapper and label.

2. A method of applying labels to overlapped end folds carrying a fusible coating which comprises heating the end folds to fuse the fusible wrapper coating, rolling against the still hot folds a. label having a fusible coating on its inner surface, heating the label while pressing it against the folds by pressure normal to the surface of the label, whereby slippage of the label and smearing of ink thereon is avoided, and subsequently chilling the folds and label.

3. A method of applying labels to overlapped end folds carrying a fusible coating which comprises heating the end folds to fuse the fusible wrapper coating, rolling against the still hot folds a label having a fusible coating on its inner surface, heating the label while pressing it against the folds by pressure normal to the surface of the label, whereby slippage of the label and smearing of ink thereon is avoided, and subsequently chilling the folds and label by pressure normal to the surface of the label.

4. A labeling machine comprising means for forwarding an article, a label web reel mounted at the side of the path of travel of the article with its axis horizontal and transverse to said path of travel, means for feeding the web into a vertical plane intersecting said path of travel, meansfor severing a label from the web, and means for moving the severed label laterally into Contact with the article.

5. A labeling machine comprising means for forwarding an article including an endless pressing member traveling in contact with the surface of the article to be labeled, a pair of label conveying belts positioned to deliver a label between the article and the pressing member, and means for feeding labels between said label conveying belts in timed relation to the article.

6. A labeling machine comprising means for` forwarding an article including an endless pressing member traveling in contact with the surface of the article to be labeled', a pair of label conveying belts in label gripping contact one with the other and extending substantially transversely -to the path of travel of said pressing member, and guide rolls for the two belts positioned with their axes spaced apart in a plane substantially transverse to said path of travel to direct a label between the article and the pressing member, and means for feeding labels between said label con'- veying belts in timed relation to the article.

7. A labeling machine comprising a pair of belts disposed on each side of the path of motion of the articles and adapted to grasp the articles between them, means to drive the belts to forward the articles so grasped, and means to deliver labels between a belt and the corresponding end of the article in timed relation to the passage of the article.

8. A labeling machine comprising a pair of metallic belts disposed on each side of the path of motion of the articles and adapted to grasp the articles between them, means to heat the belts, means to drive the belts to forward the articles so grasped, and means to deliver heat sealing labels between a belt and the corresponding end of the article in timed relation to the passage of the article.

9. A labeling machine comprising means for forwarding an article along a horizontal path, a pair of feed rolls having their axes horizontal and transverse to said path, means for supplying a label web to said rolls, means for rotating the rolls intermittently in a direction to feed the label web upwardly with the uppermost label thereon in vertical alignment with the Iarticle, means for severing the uppermost label from the web, a pair of rotating feed rolls positioned above the first pair with their axes vertical, means for moving said latter rolls first apart to receive the web from the first rolls and then together to grasp and feed laterally the label severed from the web, and means to apply to the article the label so fed. i

10. A labeling machine comprising means for forwarding an article along a horizontal path, a pair of feed rolls having their axes horizontal and transverse to the path, means for supplying V `a label web to said rolls, means for operating said rolls to feed the label web upwardly with the uppermost label thereon in vertical alignment with the article. means for severing the uppermost label from the web, a pair of intermittently engageable feed rollspositioned above the first pair with their axes vertical, and means to actuate said latter feed rolls to grasp the severed label and shift it transversely of the web in a direction towards the article for application thereto.

11. A labeling machine comprising means for forwarding an article along a horizontal path, a pair of feed rolls having their axes horizontal and transverse to said path, means for supplying a label web to said rolls, means for rotating the rolls intermittently in a direction to feed the label web upwardly with the uppermost label thereon in vertical alignment with the article, means for severing the uppermost label from the web, a pair of rotating feed rolls positioned above the first pair with their axes vertical, means for moving said latter rolls first apart to receive the web from the first rolls and then together to grasp and feed laterally the label severed from the web, a detector actuated by the passage of an article for initiating the closing movement of the latter rolls, and means to apply to the article the label so fed.

12. A labeling machine comprising means for forwarding an article along a horizontal path, a pair of feed rolls having their axes horizontal and transverse to said path, means for supplying a labelr web to said rolls, means for rotating the rolls intermittently in a direction to feed the label web upwardly with the uppermost label thereon in vertical alignment with the article, means for severing the uppermost label from the web, a pair of rotating feed rolls positioned above the first pair with their axes vertical, means for moving said latter rolls rst apart to receive the web from the first rolls and then together to grasp and feed laterally the label severed from the web, a detector actuated by the passage of an article, means controlled by the detector in the absence of an article for stopping the rotation of the first pair of rolls, for arresting the web severing mechanism, and for retaining the second pair of rolls separated, and means f orv applying to the article the label so fed.

13. A labeling machine comprising means for forwarding an article, mechanism for feeding a label into contact with the article being so forwarded at a predetermined point in its travel, a detector actuated by the passage of an article past a preceding point in its travel, connections between said detector and said mechanism to initiate lthe voperation thereof a predetermined time before the article arrives at the first of said points, and means for varying the duration of said predetermined time independently of the passage of an article past the detector to vary `the registration of a label applied to the article by said mechanism.

14. A labeling machine comprising means for forwarding an article,a label web reel mounted at the side of the path of travel of the article with its axis horizontal and transverse to said path of travel, means for feeding the web into a vertical plane intersecting said path of travel. mechanism for adjusting the length of web so fed, means for severing a label from the web, and means for moving the severed label laterally into contact with the article.

WHLIAM HOPPE. FRANKLIN B. ROBERTS. 

